Les Bowen

STAFF WRITER

Les Bowen has covered the Eagles since 2002. Before that, he covered the Flyers for 13 years. He came to the Daily News from the Charlotte Observer in May 1983, just as the Sixers were winning the NBA championship. He thought, "Gosh, this sort of thing must happen all the time here."

Eagles cornerback Ellis Hobbs has a hip flexor strain and it will be “a struggle” for him to play Sunday against Indianapolis, coach Andy Reid said. Dimitri Patterson said on Monday that he had been told he would start for Hobbs against the Colts.

Reid said the injury was bothering Hobbs during the loss to Tennessee, when the Eagles were victimized for four fourth-quarter catches for 159 yards by wideout Kenny Britt. Reid said he did not know about the injury until after the game, when it "tightened up" Reid said that was why he didn't mention Hobbs in his postgame injury report. reid didn't say why Hobbs still wasn't listed among the injured the next day, when the coach held his final news conference before the bye week.

Reid said he didn't fault Hobbs for trying to play through the injury.

“You are dealing with a very tough individual,” Reid said. “He’s very quiet and doesn’t say much. As you go back and look at the tape, you can see where it was affecting him. He’s a tough nut and a very good football player. We want to make sure that he gets back and gets ready. He played through it. It became very tight after when he was sitting around.”

Hobbs did not practice Monday will not practice today. Reid said the team “would let the thing calm down with rehab.”

He said Hobbs would be the starter if healthy. “Patterson is starting because of the injury.”

Reid got defensive when questioned about when he knew Hobbs was hurt.

“Is there something I don’t know here? Listen closely, as time went on, it tightened up after the game and got progressively worse,” Reid said.

Hobbs said in the locker room today that Reid "let me know he knew something was up." Presumably, this means Hobbs didn't tell anyone he was injured until Reid asked. As Reid mentioned, on replays from the Tennessee game, it was apparent Hobbs wasn't cutting and moving well.

The Eagles sent Hobbs to be evaluated by a doctor on Monday, when the team returned from the break. This might have been when the Reid-Hobbs conversation took place.

Hobbs didn't mention an injury after the game and then was not available to speak to reporters until today, when he lamented having been "railroaded" by reports that he had lost his starting job because of poor play. (BTW, the Daily News story speculated he had been playing injured, something the Eagles were still denying Monday.)

"It's been a while," said Hobbs, who also said he was "not going to sit here and pinpoint anything."

He also alluded to "things beyond the game itself," and said he was "relaxing to get my mind right."

Hobbs said he hadn't mentioned his hip flexor problem after the game because "to say those things is a copout .. I'm taking my bumps and bruises like any other man. What he did on the field, I don't want to take away from any of that ... bad game, regardless of being hurt and this and that. Nobody awards people for being hurt and playing sorry ... no one cares."

“Hanson has a huge role and is playing very good in the role he is playing,” Reid said. “Patterson, when he’s had an opportunity to play, he’s made plays. We’re going to give him that shot. Hanson will play a lot with the offense they run. If Ellis is down this week then Trevard Lindley is up. We’ll see how that works.”

“We’ll see how he does during practice,” Reid said. “This will be his first practice of going here. We’ll take it day by day and see how he does.”

Jackson later reiterated that message.

Tackle King Dunlap has a knee hyperextension and will not practice today. Reid said he likely will not play.

Defensive tackle Brodrick Bunkley will practice with a brace on his damaged elbow.

“We’ll see how he does through the contact periods,” Reid said. Antonio Dixon has played well in Bunkley's absence.

***
Asked about potential interest in waived receiver Randy Moss, Reid said, “I’m a big Randy Moss fan. His work, he’s done a phenomenal job. I like the receivers we have right now … Randy’s going to go on and hook up with someone and finish his career. I have a lot of respect for him as a football player. I know him off the field … Right now we have good nucleus of young receivers and feel very good about them.”

***
On the situation in Washington, Reid demurred.

“Everybody knows how I feel about Donovan … This is a the greatest quarterback in franchise history and thise franchise has been around a couple of days. I respect the heck out of the guy. I really don’t spend too much time on that. I really try to spend time on the Colts and focus in on that. He’s a phenomenal football player and a good person.”